In Between
by JennJayBee
Summary: When Katherine Pierce died, she wasn't allowed to cross over. Now she finds herself held by the Travellers, and what they have planned is far worse.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Hell wasn't quite what I'd expected it to be. Sure, while I was being dragged away from Bonnie Bennett and into an abyss by some mystical force, I'd fully expected to find myself in a fiery pit somewhere surrounded by demons or Kardashians or something. Instead, I was in a standing cell and staring down at least three random Travellers at any given time, and there was some bitch barking orders who called herself Sloan.

I didn't bother saying anything. She was the bragging kind. It takes one to know one. "I'm sure you have a lot of questions, Katherine."

I only shrugged. "There are of course the standard ones... Why am I here? What do you want with me? What in the hell possessed you to pair those shoes with that outfit? I'm sure you have an answer for all of it so let's get to it."

She gave a cold smile I was very familiar with. "We brought you here. We have plans for you. Likely the same thing that possessed you to overdo it with your eye makeup." Okay, she was good. Maybe we could have been besties in another life. "Look, there's really only one thing you need to know, Katherine. There's no escaping that cell, and even if you did, you're still dead. Nobody can see or hear or otherwise interact with you except for fellow Travellers. With any luck, you won't have to be here long, so be a good girl and don't try anything stupid."

I didn't bother to answer, offering only a glower in response as she walked away and then seemed to vanish into thin air. My attention focused instead on the three keeping an eye on me. Like some cliche, I was given a blonde, a brunette, and a redhead who I mentally named Eenie, Meenie, and Miney, respectively. All three were well-built, but more importantly the preternatural vibes emanating from them made the air around them so thick that even I was able to almost touch it. It was a lot of metaphysical muscle for someone who was supposed to be in a helpless situation. That knowledge alone kept my mind working, but staring them down would only keep them on their feet.

I offered a smile and a much more pleasant demeanor. "Well, if you boys are going to keep me locked up in here, you could at least be gracious hosts. Any chance I could get some entertainment?" They looked at each other casting silent questions back and forth, and I knew they weren't allowed to talk to me. Good to know. I didn't need them to. "So... You boys can see and hear me, right? And you can't ignore me..." I focused my gaze on the brunette, Meenie. "In fact, I'm betting you can't take your eyes off me. So if I were to do something like this..." My smile quickly melted into a cool smirk as hands traveled upward along my inner thigh, disappearing from sight only to return dragging a pair of black lace panties into view. I pulled them down further, slowly, until I was able to step out, and I tossed them straight at my dark-haired target, who swallowed hard when he instinctively caught them.

I was corporeal here, and I could manipulate my environment. Also good to know.

I feigned a confused pout as I continued to stare down my guards. "So, can you boys also interact with me? I mean, I can't leave this place anyway, and I'm really no fun when I'm bored. I'm sure you could help me find a good way to pass the time?" Meenie was interested if the look on his face was anything to go by, but he still wasn't talking, and he wasn't moving. They were supposed to stay in that exact spot. Again, good to know. The formation suggested that they were guarding me, but I considered the other possibility. Something was being guarded _from _me, and I couldn't see around them to see what it was, but by the way they shifted when I'd mentioned my impossible escape I was guessing it was the way out.

My teeth grazed against my lower lip as I tilted my head and gave Meenie my best come hither look. "Tell you what.. Your two friends over there can stay put if they want. I really don't mind a couple of voyeurs. In fact, it's kind of hot. Don't you think that's kind of hot?" My fingers trailed upward and out of sight underneath my skirt again, and I sighed as I looked him in the eyes. My other hand crooked a finger to beckon him closer. "If you're really that scared I'll escape, you can just join me in here. It's a little tight, but I'm sure we can make do with what we've got."

Meenie smiled back with that look that only a man can get and only when he knows he's about to win. Gotcha. He looked at his companions, giving them a look that said they should stay put before he finally walked toward me, recovering his predatory expression. "I can definitely make do."

"I'll just bet you can."

Miney finally spoke up. "Sloan put us here to keep an eye on the doppelganger." Meenie wasn't paying attention. He swiped a hand over the bars, and three of them melted away as I pulled him in. My hands danced down the length of his torso before finding his waistband, and I tugged him against me. Miney was still fussing behind him. "Dude, if she gets the dagger..."

I already had it. Even as a human I was a hell of a pickpocket, and it was in Meenie's ribcage before he knew I'd taken it off him. As if thought became reality I stood before Eenie and Miney in a blink, the dagger burying itself first in Eenie's neck and then in Miney's stomach. I stood in disbelief as I looked at the bloodied dagger in my hand and realized what my situation was and how I'd crossed the room so quickly.

I'd died as a vampire, and I was a vampire in death.

The toppled guards revealed only a wall, and rage engulfed me. I'd been wrong, and now I'd have to find another way out. Fine by me. I'd level this place from the inside out. I was already dead. What was the worst that could happen? I mustered everything I had in me- the contempt I held for those who had hijacked my death, the injustice I'd felt when the so-called "good guys" of Mystic Falls kidnapped my dying daughter and used her against me, the pure survival instinct I'd gained from running from an immortal hybrid for five hundred years, the need for revenge I'd had when I found my mother's mangled corpse, the betrayal I'd experienced when my father ripped my baby from my arms and then banished me from my own home. All of it melted into pure rage and flowed just beneath my skin only to be channeled into my fist as it was sent into the wall.

I never made contact with anything. My hand passed through and struck nothing. It was enough of a surprise to stop me cold, and I tried the surface with the other hand to test the theory. Nothing. I squared my shoulders and breathed, stepping through into a dark void only to find myself seconds later alone within the church where I'd found Bonnie.

I wasn't taking any chances that whatever spell had snatched me from that church would take me again. I left, running at the speed I was most familiar with until I stood in front of the only place I knew to go. Yeah, they all loathed me and had just killed me, but like hell was I going down to the Travelers, and there was a good chance that Stefan and his merry band might consider whatever they were up to far more dire than ridding themselves of The Big Bad Katherine Pierce.

It was a stroke of good luck that Matt Donovan was the first face I saw. He'd always been someone I liked, and he was the least likely to try to kill me at first sight. Good ol' Matty Blue... I approached slowly. No need to scare the kid and potentially have him pass out on me. Then again, he should probably be used to it by now. He smiled when he finally saw me, and I guessed that he'd mistaken me for Elena. I corrected him. "Wrong one, Matty. You guys should have figured out by now I'm a lot harder to kill than all that."

There was no response. Instead, he walked right through me and toward the person he'd really been smiling at the whole time- Jeremy Gilbert.

"Hey!" I wasn't a fan of being ignored, even if the other person couldn't help themselves. I turned to Elena's baby brother. Even if Sloan had been right, Jeremy should have been an exception to that rule. "Aren't you supposed to see dead people?"

"Only if he's thinking about you, darling, which he clearly isn't."

The voice from behind me caught me off-guard, and I whirled around to see a face I'd only had the misfortune to see once in my very long life. "Kol."

He grinned, something that would unsettle even the strongest resolve when delivered by Klaus's little brother."Welcome to hell, Katerina."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"Come on, you useless Haley Joel Osment hunter freak!" I even tried knocking over Jeremy Gilbert, but my fingers only slipped right through him. Kol was entertained, at least.

"You'd think this would have gotten old after the past two hours, but no." He laughed, and if either of us had still been alive, I might have actually given into temptation to give him the fight he so obviously wanted if only because I knew he had no desire whatsoever to kill me. Kol was never exactly loyal to Klaus unless he wanted to be, and he'd had a little crush a few centuries back. Lucky me, he was the only member of the family who'd ever managed to figure out my methods. Would he get his jollies off of my fingers wrapped around his throat? Maybe, but it might be worth it for the chance to strangle him.

"So I'm supposed to... what? Just give up?"

"You'll have to forgive me, Katerina. You're the first person I've been able to talk to in a while, and every bit of hell you've been putting Elena Gilbert through has been well worth watching." He was on me in a flash, his fingers skimming my neck as I felt his breath on my ear. "You're also the first person I've been able to touch in a very long time." I shot him a glare, and he backed off, his hands in the air as if he were surrendering. "Only a suggestion, love!"

I turned back to Jeremy and my task of getting his attention. "Here's a suggestion, Kol. Try to be useful. I might even be grateful."

Something about the fact that I was finally tossing him a bone brought him out of the usual jovial psychopath mask he wore so well. Kol was often mistaken for being a little primal when in reality there was a beautiful mind he didn't want people to see. He was genuinely a creep, but he was also philosophical and tactically brilliant in a way that made Klaus seem like a novice. While he enjoyed proving that fact to himself, he preferred that others keep their guard lowered to a certain level when around him. He'd only found me in the first place because his older brothers had told him it wasn't possible. "You'll likely have more luck with Bonnie Bennett. She does still have unfinished business with you, being the gateway to the Other Side and all."

I considered it and paused in my assault against Elena's baby brother. "You're absolutely right." I turned to face the now-serious dead Original and flashed him a genuinely gracious smile. "Let's go track down a witch, shall we?"

.

.

* * *

Bonnie hadn't been hard to find, but then I'd known that if I hung out in the Mystic Grill long enough someone of interest would eventually walk in. Bonnie was already there when we arrived, and she was sitting across from a very healthy and chipper Elena Gilbert. Kol had been just as disappointed as I was, so there was that. I had a shoulder to cry on in the afterlife, after all. Of course, it also took Kol about two seconds to start moping over the fact that he couldn't order anything to drink, and I left him standing where he was to give Elena a piece of my mind while I stood just behind Bonnie. "I'm beginning to think that when this world ends it will be just you and a cockroach left behind."

Bonnie whirled around. "Katherine!"

Okay, so maybe I shouldn't have been that surprised. Kol's suspicion that Bonnie would still be able to see and hear me was the reason we were there in the first place. "Oh, goodie. I was right."

"You mean I was right." Kol was just suddenly there. I didn't question it. "Can you see me, too?"

Bonnie didn't respond at all to Kol's presence. I flashed him an apologetic look, but it was only half-hearted. "I guess not." I turned my attention back to a very confused-looking witch. "I'll make this short. Travellers. They're up to something, and it includes me for whatever reason. So killing me kinda made things worse."

Kol cleared his throat behind me and then stalked forward, glaring at Elena. Elena just gave Bonnie her usual vacant, overly confused stare. "Bonnie, what's going on?"

"Oh, and Kol is here, too. You can't see him but I can. Also, you can see and hear me and..." I poked at her shoulder. There was no transport to the afterlife, but I didn't go through her, either. "Looks like you can touch me, too. To everyone else besides the Travellers I'm entirely incorporeal."

"It's Katherine. She's here." Bonnie was looking right at me, but she was explaining to Elena. "She says the Travellers were involved in her death somehow. She can't cross over." Bonnie conveniently left out the Original ghost swiping at her friend's head.

"Not my problem." How I managed to share a face with someone so short-sighted was beyond me.

"She says they're up to something, that her death was part of their plan." She was shaking her head, and her tone implied that it was a question.

Elena was suddenly interested. It took her long enough to catch on. "Enzo said that the Travellers were the ones who gave Damon and me the antidote but that in order to get it they had to help them find Stefan's doppelganger- one they wanted dead. It had something to do with mine and Stefan's blood being used in a spell, but it would only work if we were the last of the doppelgangers."

"Wait... Stefan has another doppelganger? And I thought Silas was the only other person with those good looks. I've got to meet this guy."

Bonnie rolled her eyes at me and went back to talking with Elena, but the mention of Silas got Kol's attention. "I know witches," he said. "Nothing is used in a spell unless it has a specific purpose, a meaning. Doppelgangers were created because of Qetsiyah's immortality spell, which is why my mother used doppelganger blood to create vampires. That link between you and my family is why the doppelganger's blood was needed to undo the curse that sealed away Klaus's werewolf side. Because Amara was the first portal to the Other Side, your blood could also be used in a spell that deals with death and afterlife, which I'm betting is how they trapped you. So a gang of witches that once included Silas wants to use the blood of doppelgangers he helped to create, and all they need for it to work is one little death..."

"Not good. I get it, Kol."

"What's not good?" I'd forgotten that Bonnie couldn't hear Kol, and she was staring at me waiting for an explanation. I relayed everything Kol had just told me. "He's right." Something about the look on her face said she was surprised, and I didn't have to look at Kol to know he didn't mind that reaction once bit. "I guess having Esther for a mother has its perks, if you can overlook the whole fact that your mother wants to kill you."

Kol glared in response. He had very much minded the mention of his mother's plans to kill them all.

Elena was already prodding at Bonnie who was ignoring her for my benefit. Point for Katherine. There was really only one conclusion I could come to in all of this, and I gave Bonnie my take on the situation. "So it's settled, then. We have an incredibly handsome doppelganger to save."

Bonnie wasn't exactly in agreement. "Katherine, if those Travellers can still see you, then Atlanta is the last place you should be. They'll be all over that place looking for him, and chances are they still want you for whatever it is they're doing."

"So he's in Atlanta, then?"

Bonnie realized she'd said too much. "Don't..."

Maybe she'd said more, but I missed it. Kol and I were already gone with every intention of heading to Georgia.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"Well, this was brilliantly thought out, Katerina. What exactly were you hoping to accomplish?" Kol was losing his patience. The fact that the Travellers were involved in all of this wasn't helping. "This has something to do with Silas, I'm sure of it."

"Has anyone ever told you that you have a one track mind, Kol?"

"Some people appreciate it more." He wasn't referring to Silas anymore, and he knew I knew that, but he wasn't using the darkly playful tone he would have normally used with a statement like that. "You hardly have room to talk, though, what with you cooing all over _him_." He was nodding toward the doppelganger and changing the subject. As we suspected, neither of us was able to interact with him in any way, and we'd been forced to watch him instead. That I'd instantly taken to the EMT wasn't doing Kol's ego any favors, and he wasn't being quiet about it.

"I'm sure Bonnie has already told everyone else, and they'll be here soon enough to save the day. Until then, we might as well keep an eye on him."

"And if the Travellers show up first?"

As if he'd summoned them with the question, two of them came out of the shop across the street from the diner where our doppelganger was eating his lunch. I studied the area, looking for signs of any others. As soon as I was sure they were alone, I sped to them, appearing suddenly behind them and snapping both of their necks within a fraction of a second before pulling them both into the nearby alley.

Kol made a sound that implied he was impressed, but I wasn't going to stop to appreciate it. I made my way back to the diner as quickly as possible. "I can interact with Travellers, but that's not going to help if the whole coven shows up. They're getting close, and they'll know soon enough that two of their own are down. He's too out in the open here."

I needed to move him, and the thought caused me to absently place my hands on his shoulders. I'd expected them to go through, and they did, but there was something different about this. There was some connection there, and I wasn't sure what. It was vaguely reminiscent of when I'd invaded Elena's body from my death bed, and while I was tempted, I didn't like it.

I pulled my hands back, and Kol noticed. "What was that?"

"I don't know if it's a doppelganger thing or a Traveller thing. There's some connection here."

"Then you should probably use it." He was growing restless again.

I shook my head. "No, if this is what I think it is, then he doesn't deserve that. He's a genuinely nice guy, and when I say that I don't mean that he has some self-righteous concept of how what he's doing for his own interests is 'good.' We watched him save some kid's life earlier today."

"Not that I don't think the whole idea of you growing a conscience is cute, Katerina. I do. You just might want to pick another time to do it." Something was wrong.

I looked up to see four more Travellers entering the area from different directions. All of them were headed toward the alley where I'd left their friends, and I was betting that there were more on the way. Thankfully, none of them had glanced toward the diner just yet. I did the only thing could think to do and chanted the words I'd memorized when I took over Elena's body as my hands clutched at what was becoming more and more solid flesh. I closed my eyes and opened them again, only to find myself sitting at the table.

"Did it work?" I said it as if I was mumbling to myself, and the voice I heard wasn't mine.

Kol plopped down in front of me. "You've looked better. Can you still see me?"

I only nodded, not wanting to catch the attention of anyone else in the room. I grabbed the hat nearby and fixed it as best I could to obscure any view of the face I was borrowing. Slowly, I stood from the table and left enough to cover the tab before heading out, exiting the square entirely. I walked as quickly and as silently as I could manage without attracting attention to where I knew the bus station would be.

Kol was on my heels, and I was thankful that I hadn't spotted anyone nearby. "I'll keep an eye out. You get him to Virginia."

"I'm not staying in this body for long, Kol. For one thing, I have no idea how you manage to run with all of your... parts."

There was a roar of laughter to answer me. "Just keep him moving. Does he have a phone on him?"

I checked his pockets. Sure enough, he had one, and I knew precisely what was being suggested. Nadia's boyfriend had done something similar to get a message to Matt. I turned on the display and ran a thumb over the screen to access the various apps. The video camera wasn't hard to find. I pointed it toward myself and hit the button to record. "Don't be alarmed. You're probably confused right now, but you need to take this seriously. There are people following you. They want to kill you. I'm going to save your life, but I need for you to follow my instructions. Get on the bus and take it to Mystic Falls, Virginia. Go to the Mystic Grill and wait there. Someone will find you and explain."

I stopped the recording and kept walking until we reached the bus station. It was all but empty, and I stepped up to the counter to order my ticket, handing over a card to pay for the trip. Using the pen at the counter, I scrawled a quick message onto one of the nearby brochures: "Check your phone. Watch the video."

I thanked the man behind the window for the ticket and slowly took a seat, adjusting myself into various positions as I did so and not quite sure if I was doing any of it correctly. I was halfway down in the seat with an amused Kol looking on when I stuck the ticket inside the brochure, making sure that the writing was so that I could see it.

I closed my eyes and mentally pushed myself outward, and when I opened them again I was staring down at Stefan's double. He'd gotten the message and was pawing through his jacket for his phone. The look on his face as he watched himself on the video was enough to tell me that he needed no further convincing.

Kol came rushing back in. "Outside, now! Two more!"

The two from before were back, and I cursed myself for not having used their dagger on them. It was a mistake I wasn't going to make a second time. I rounded the corner just in time to snatch the dagger from the first one's belt and slit his throat, but the other slipped away while I was taking care of his friend. I followed behind just in time to see him drive his dagger into the doppelganger's middle. I caught up in a flash, but I was halted by the sensation of my skull imploding.

"You really are more trouble than you're worth, Katherine. You've killed four from my coven, and you seem to be under the impression that you can stop this. You can't. Once this doppelganger breathes his last we won't need you. We already have Stefan and Elena's blood. We have the anchor. We have everything we need to undo what was done over two thousand years ago, and then none of you will have ever existed." He bent over me as I struggled to remain upright. "We've already won."

Forming words wasn't easy in my state, but I managed. "Congratulations." Some force of will had my hands around his dagger, and before either of us could think to do much else, I drove it into his chest. The pain was gone, and he slumped over to fall at my feet.

Kol looked as if he might be in shock. He didn't utter a word as I ran past him to hover over the man I'd tried to save. Blood pooled in his mouth and coated his lips as he tried to breath. He was drowning in his own blood, and there was nothing I could do.


	4. Chapter 4

**A note from the author:** _So here it is, the final chapter. I apologize for the wait. It's been a busy spring for me. I would take the time to respond to some of the questions in your reviews, but I'm pretty sure this is going to answer them for me. Thank you everyone for your kind words and favorites._

* * *

.

.

If I'd been able to interact with the bloodied and dying man in the floor, I would have been covered and soaked in his blood. Every attempt at breath from him was a gurgle or a sputter, and while he clung to life by a thread he looked at me. He saw me, and that wasn't a good sign.

"Oh, no! No, no, no..." Bonnie was standing in the doorway, and I took that to mean that everyone else wasn't far behind. She ran to us and hovered over the man who wore Stefan's face.

"I did would I could do. Is Damon or Stefan with you? Elena? Caroline? One of them can fix this."

"They right outside, but they can't get in on account of the Travelers. They'd only let me past."

It made sense. The man I'd killed mentioned that the anchor was important, and I suddenly didn't want Bonnie to be here. "Bonnie, you need to get out now." I started to explain, but the sound of chanting outside stopped me, and it was joined by the faint sound of a nearby struggling voice. I grabbed the dagger and rushed to the man I thought I'd killed and rolled him over onto his back. I'd finish the job soon enough, but I wanted answers, first.

Bonnie spoke up first. "I recognize this spell. It's an undoing."

My fist landed hard against the dying Traveler's face, pulling him out of his trance. "You said you were undoing everything. What did you mean by that?"

He laughed, and I punched him again. "I meant exactly that. Two thousand years ago, Silas and Amara became immortals. Doppelgangers were created, and they were used a thousand years later to make a new race of immortals. No immortality spell, no doppelgangers. No doppelgangers, no vampires roaming the earth. Without vampires, the rightful order of power will be restored."

"Witches would be virtually unchallenged." I finished the thought for him.

He managed a bloody, choked laugh. "We would be gods on earth."

"If anyone gets to be a god on earth, it's me." Kol was raging behind me. "This is not acceptable! I'm pretty fond of how my life turned out, minus my encounter with Elena and her brother, of course. I liked being immortal."

I wasn't any more amused than Kol. "Well, at least you'll have a new playmate to take it out on in a few, Kol. He won't last long, and Bonnie's already here to see him over to the Other Side."

"I don't think you're fully understanding, Katerina." Kol was hovering over all of us. "If they undo the immortality spell, the Other Side won't have existed. That's why they wanted Bonnie. Even if they left their little Purgatory intact, I won't have been a vampire. You won't have existed at all."

Bonnie screamed as if on cue, and she reached for me as the chanting grew louder. My instinct was to take her hand. I knew I'd be able to finally cross over, but Kol grabbed me first, his voice even and calm despite the situation. "Don't. It's the spell. It's what you're supposed to do. The minute you cross over and he dies..." He nodded to the paramedic on the floor. "They'll have everything they need."

"So what am I supposed to do? I'm still dead. He'll be dead soon enough. They still win."

"Not quite." He looked past me, and I followed his gaze to see what it was he was looking at. It wasn't quite visible, but there existed a thin veil just behind where Bonnie was planted in the floor, and there was a tear in it. "You still haven't crossed over. You might be still able to push through it."

"What is that?"

"It's a way to cross over, but not to the realm of the dead." He had that look he got when he was planning someone's slow death. "They need one living doppelganger, love. It'd be such a shame if a second one rejoined the land of the living."

I looked down at the Traveler on the floor for confirmation, but he was already dead. Instead, I turned to Kol. "You can't come with? Could be fun..." He was already shaking his head. "Another time, then." I didn't hesitate further, and I put as much distance as I could between Bonnie and myself as I approached the tear. Pushing through took some effort, and it wasn't painless. I screamed as I continued to walk forward, every movement feeling as if the flesh was being slowly peeled from my bones though I was experiencing the exact opposite.

The journey through required a moment of rest, but that was it, and I tested my hand with the rake of a nail across my skin. Blood pooled within the open wound before it closed again. I was a vampire, and the realization brought a sinister smirk to my lips.

A gurgle caught my attention, and I rushed to the paramedic and lifted his head as I bit into my own wrist and prayed to whatever god would listen. I pushed the bleeding wound against his lips and issued an order. "I know it's hard, but you're going to have to swallow as much as you can." I waited and could swear that I felt him do as instructed, but I was only given a few seconds before he made a startled sound and his breathing ceased. I heard his heart flutter to a stop, and I knew he was gone. For the second time in less than a few minutes, I'd failed him.

Failure was something I couldn't easily handle, and the witches outside were captured in a trance while performing a spell that would no longer work. Unless one of them could perform two spells at once, I liked my odds.

If there had been a barrier around the station, It was no longer working. Nearly thirty witches waited for me, and I immediately caught sight of Sloan. I zipped toward her and sank my fangs deep into her throat and fed a thirst I hadn't quenched since Stefan planted a dagger in Elena's gut to kill me. Sloan was still chanting when she fell to the ground and took her last breath. One by one I made my way through the crowd. When I'd had my fill of blood, I started to snap their necks. With each one, I heard Bonnie scream from within the building, and I knew they'd finally crossed over. I wondered if Kol was enjoying the sight. I'd killed most of them when a few began to return to their senses, still weak from their efforts. They ran, but two of them didn't get far. One was impaled on a piece of railing I snapped free. The other was run down, her arms and legs broken before I finally grappled her head and twisted so hard it nearly came off in my hands. Only three escaped me, and I had better things to do before I hunted them down.

.

* * *

_**One month later...**_

New Orleans was almost always miserable and hot, and if it wasn't for the beignets and parties I would avoid it for the most part. Too many witches for my taste had made it their home, and there were certain other people I'd always tried to avoid.

The chair was comfy enough, though there were no classic works of art to compliment the rest of the decor. Elijah's good taste was present, though Klaus had an ego to stroke. All of the paintings were his. I preferred Van Gough in every sense. He'd been a better painter, and even after he'd gone mad he was far better company than Klaus. How my werewolf informant had ended up fond enough of him to bed him was beyond me. Klaus could be charming when he wanted to be, but Haley had known what he was going in. I failed to see the appeal.

What I did find appealing was Klaus's reaction when he and his brother finally walked through the door to find me there in their family home. Elijah kept a careful eye on Klaus as he stood there with a slack jaw attempting to process who it was he was looking at. "Elena? Why are you..."

"Oh, I'm not Elena," I interrupted. "And I'm not dead, either. I did die. Now I'm back." I paused, watching Klaus as he stood stunned, and my lips curled into a smile and I continued in a light sing-song tone. "Ta-da!"

"You died?" Elijah seemed to be hearing this for the first time.

"He didn't tell you?" I glanced from one brother to the other. "After you left, Elena crammed that cure down my throat and made me human. I was chased across country by Stefan's doppelganger, who also happens to be a suicidal mind-controlling immortal. I was nearly killed by a car accident and then a sinus infection. Oh, and I was reunited with my vampire daughter, who kidnapped me. So I died of extreme old age, and guess who showed up to gloat while I was on my death bed!"

"Niklaus..." Elijah sounded tortured. It was almost heartbreaking. Almost.

"A condition that apparently was not as permanent as I would have liked." Klaus was about to pounce.

"Interesting little thing about Caroline Forbes, Klaus... She loves to talk to her best friend Elena all about her sex life. She did share an interesting tidbit with me about a certain encounter in the woods and a promise you made to her." There was a visible change of expression from the man who had hunted me down for centuries. He was going to honor his word, but he didn't like it. "I'd like to have a word alone with Elijah, if you don't mind."

Elijah continued to stare as Klaus stormed from the room. I was sure Klaus would still be listening in, but I didn't care. It wasn't as if he could turn off his abilities.

"Katerina? What's happened while I was away?"

"More than you care to know. I got to see you one last time. Damon got into my head while I was at my weakest. He wanted to torture me by reminding me that nobody cared enough to come." Elijah managed to look as if he felt ill, a feat for most vampires. "That wasn't the end, though. I sort of might have possessed Elena Gilbert's body for a while and attempted to seduce Stefan Salvatore."

"Katerina!" That was his shocked face, and it was real. I'd seen it a few times before during my confessions to Elijah, and I heard Klaus quietly laugh in some dark corner of the house. "Why you persist in needlessly torturing Elena Gilbert is beyond my understanding." He didn't seem too broken up about it, or at least his tone didn't insinuate that it was a deal breaker. He'd probably done worse, and Elijah knew I was well aware that he was no saint.

"Don't sound so surprised, Elijah. You know perfectly well that if given the choice I'd much rather have my life over Elena Gilbert's. I was doing what was necessary to stay alive. And besides... All of her sweet little innocent friends did eventually kill me just as soon as they let me watch my daughter die a slow and painful death right in front of me. You remember the darling role models of Mystic Falls, right?"

"And yet, here you are."

I wasn't going to bother telling him the rest, with the exception of one thing. "Kol sends his love, kind of."

He didn't seem interested in inquiring further. "_Why_ are you here?"

"While I was busy dying, Caroline offered to give your brother a chance if he'd drop his grudge against me. It was sweet, actually. Who knew Caroline would put herself out there for little ol' me after I, you know, killed her?" I spent a moment considering that arrangement. "Five hundred years of running, and all this time all I had to do was find him a girlfriend."

Elijah only smiled and then walked toward me, his hand held out in offering. I took it and stood. There was something comforting about resting my head on his chest while his arms were around me. "I regretted leaving you behind, but you know that my family will always come first, and there was no way you could join me then. If Klaus has set you free, you could join me here now."

"That's why I'm here- to tell you that I could join you here, but I won't." His hold on me only grew tighter as I said it. "You said it yourself. I will never come first with you. That's fine. You wouldn't be the Elijah I love otherwise." I pulled away, and he let me. I stood on tip toe to place a soft kiss to his lips, and he closed his eyes. "Goodbye, Elijah."

As I walked out the door, I spied my newly acquired silver Ford Mustang GT. Behind the wheel and waiting for me was a freshly-turned paramedic from Atlanta.


End file.
